Yacht
by Oblong features
Summary: Cream discovers a stranger in her boat-a stranger her friends don't like very much.
1. Chapter 1

Because of the fact there's 18,000 entries in the "Sonic the Hedgehog" category, I have this suspicion that only three people are going to read this.

Ah, well, worth a try.

A bit of background: This takes place during the Sonic X episode "Cruise Blues". For those of you that haven't seen the episode or don't remember it, seeing as Sonic X was aired a few years shy of half my life ago, Christopher Thorndyke (hee hee… Thorndyke) and his unearthly friends go on a cruise to some glaciers as a vacation. Sonic, however, because of his hatred of boats and water, in order to escape does laps around the ship, tries to woo Amy and fool Tails to get back to shore, and even attempts to jump ship to shore …15 times. So this takes place on the boat with Sonic, Tails, Amy, Chris, Chris' grandfather, and the fabulous Cream and Cheese.

Note: Cream is around 11 or 12 years old, as is Tails (not that big of a difference emotionally or physically). The other characters retain their same ages, as stated in the show or video game or wherever.

This was the first time ever that Cream couldn't sleep at night. Cheese was asleep happily beside her, as was Amy Rose in the bed across the room. But Cream, for the first time ever in her whole short life, couldn't sleep. This was for no reason in particular of course, seeing as Cream had no worries or ailments or tribulations of any kind. She simply wasn't tired. Not restless, listless, or anything like that. Simply not tired, with a slight sprinkling of ennui. Having watched enough T.V. to educate her for the next several million years, she knew that the cure for this sleeping shenanigans was a warm glass of milk. She scooted quietly around her small chao friend, thudding her lucky little rabbit feet on the soft floor. Amy stirred and Cream froze. The pink hedgehog flipped over, facing the wall, muttering something about accepting a marriage proposal from her favorite blue counterpart. Cream smiled as she snuck out of the room, heading for the kitchen.

After getting her mug of milk she decided to go outside. Maybe the sea air would make her sleepier, she thought. She head out to the deck, sitting on a nice sun chair and gazing happily at the clear sky, wondering if her mother was looking at the same thing, taking a gulp of her milk and sighing dreamily. Looking to the horizon, she saw the glaciers far away, radiating a blue and purple Kool-Aid powder color. Her insides got fuzzy, and she was content (thought still not tired). All of a sudden, before she could take another sip of her beverage, she thought she heard a yell of some kind. It was either distant or muffled, but either way, unsettling. She set down her mug and jogged over to the left edge of the boat, staring blankly over the edge in search for the perpetrator of said noise. A shadow bubbled a few meters away from the ship, catching Cream's eye. She saw a hand go up and go back down. A gasp escaped her lips. It looked like Sonic's hand. She dashed to the emergency exit boats, jumping in and lowering herself down to the ocean as fast as she possibly could. Using her child-like arms, she picked up the extremely heavy paddles and began to row towards the hand. She paddled franticly, and when she got to the spot of where she saw the hand, looking down into what was now the dark abyss of slime that used to be a wonderful sea, housing a glorious iceberg. She looked around desperately for the life preserver to throw in to the blue hedgehog, and seeing that the boat was devoid of one, in a fit of hysteria, leaped in the water, clothes on and all. She looking around quickly and saw a hedgehog-like figure sinking deep into the sinister darkness. Panicking, she flapped her arms and grabbed the wrist of her dear friend and dragged him to the surface, flinging him in the boat. She hauled herself up as well, catching her breath. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her friend lightly panting, a good sign. She began to paddle back to the yacht, arriving a lot faster than her departure. She pulled the boat up, using very much effort, right back to where it was, and she lugged her blue pal back onto the yacht. Looking over and realizing that her friend actually wasn't breathing as he was before, she recalled yet another thing she had learned from television: CPR. Taking a deep breath and pinching his nose, she put her innocent mouth around his and blew as hard as she could. He coughed lightly. She did it again. He coughed a bit harder. She did it one final time and the hedgehog exploded in a fit of coughs and gasps. Sprawling over on his stomach and bending over, seized by a terrible pain in his lungs, the young rabbit lovingly put a hand on his back and attempted to relieve him of the torture. All of a sudden, Cream noticed something she hadn't seen on her friend before—red stripes on some of his spikes. She was thoroughly confused; Sonic never had those marking on his back before. There was only one person she knew that did who was a hedgehog as well. Just as he finished coughing and Cream took a step back, the white tuft on his chest was exposed and Shadow lay panting in the boat.

"Wh-… Wher-…" Shadow gasped, a hand on his chest in agony. Once Cream's mind was finished processing that it wasn't in fact Sonic and was instead whose life she had just saved, her attitude was still not changed—her optimism and natural kind heart left her naïve and left Shadow in a pleasant position. The little girl smiled and leaned over the angry hedgehog.

"Don't worry, you're safe now," she said happily in her sing-song child's voice. "I won't let anything bad happen to you!


	2. Chapter 2

Like a kid—he swung his legs on the edge of the lawn chair, being too short to touch the ground, like a kid. She sat across from him, smiling in his face with the aura of an innocent youth. Every once and a while he'd glance up at her, an awkward grimace on his face, as she waited for him to speak. But fifteen minutes passed and he remained silent. Eventually, they managed to make eye contact for more than a few seconds, and the black hedgehog spoke out of courtesy.

"Thank you…" he began, pacing himself, "for… saving me." He coughed up a remainder of some of the water in his lungs, and out of concern, Cream jumped up to assist him, touching his back until his coughing ceased.

"You're welcome, Mr. Shadow! I was worried when I saw you, I didn't think you were okay… what are you doing all the way out here?" she asked. He looked at his hands contemplatively, furrowing his brow.

"I… I can't remember…" His voice trailed off into thought. "I can't remember anything…" he muttered, crossing his arms, feeling vulnerable.

"Don't worry, Mr. Shadow! I'm sure you'll remember soon. I forget things all the time, but I always remember them later," she said smiling at him, inadvertently holding his hand. Not used to a stranger's kindness, especially that of a child, he felt himself smile a little as his fingers slipped under her palm. He hadn't felt this kind of kindness in over fifty year. It was soothing, embracing, warm. "Would you like some tea? Your hands are so cold, some tea would warm you right up!" He nodded slowly, listening to his neck crack uncomfortably as he did so.

"Sure," he replied, his gaze remaining on his hand wrapped in hers, a slight smile of awe still resting on his lips. Without warning, they were interrupted by a shrill voice coming from the doorway.

"Cream?... _Shadow_…_?_" Cream's eyes widened, her mouth agape with mortification.

"Amy?"


End file.
